Tunisia

Tunisia: President’s Repressive Policies Abrogate Rights: Dozens Placed Under Arbitrary House Arrest (HRW)

Human Rights Watch (Tunis) – Arbitrary and politically motivated acts of repression have proliferated in Tunisia since July 25, 2021, when President Kais Saied suspended parliament, Human Rights Watch said today. He also lifted parliamentary immunity, dismissed the head of government, and took control of the office of the public prosecutor. Three parliament members have […]

Authoritarianism

Is Tunisia’s president largely responsible for the disaster he says he is trying to fix with his Coup?

Middle East Monitor

By Adnan Hmidan | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – The constitutionally-limited role of the president of the republic in Tunisia doesn’t encourage involvement or intervention in day to day affairs; that is the role of parliament and the government, headed by the prime minister. This has vexed constitutional law professor Kais Saied, who […]

Authoritarianism

Tunisia: the complex issues behind the presidential power-grab

The Conversation

By Mariam Salehi | – Ten years on from the Arab uprisings, Tunisia has often been presented as a rare success story. Elsewhere Egypt sank into an army dictatorship, Syria, Libya and Yemen into bloody civil war. In other countries, meanwhile, such as Bahrain, the protests were put down with ferocity and the old regimes […]

Authoritarianism

Tunisia’s presidential power-grab is a test for its democracy

Open Democracy

By Larbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh | – ( OpenDemocracy.net ) – In a shocking move, Tunisia’s President Kais Saied invoked Article 80 of the country’s constitution on 25 July, the nation’s annual Republic Day. Citing “exceptional” circumstances, he sacked Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, froze the Parliament and lifted the immunity of its members, granted […]

Authoritarianism

Tunisia’s President just made the kind of Coup Trump and US Republicans plotted (and are plotting) Against President Biden

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera reports that Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed the prime minister, prorogued parliament for 30 days, stripped parliamentarians of their immunity and appointed himself the country’s attorney general in what the opposition branded a coup. Opposition leaders pointed out that the Tunisian constitution does not grant the president the […]

Democracy

Why Tunisians are still out on the streets — a decade after the Arab Spring

The Conversation

By Saerom Han, Andrea Teti, and Pamela Abbott | – It has been 10 years since nation-wide protests in Tunisia led to the ousting of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his regime. Ben Ali led Tunisia for 23 years. Tunisia’s “Dignity Revolution” marked the first time a long-standing Arab autocrat was removed […]

Arab Spring

10 Years ago Young Tunisians deposed a Dictator and founded the Arab World’s most Vigorous Democracy

Middle East Monitor

By Jehan Alfarra | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – The Tunisian uprising spread like wildfire and millions in neighbouring Arab countries revolted against their long-time dictators, giving birth to what became known as the Arab Spring January 14, 2021 at 1:55 pm | Published in: Africa, On this day, Opinion, Tunisia, Videos & […]

Tunisia

Will Tunisia, the only Success of the Arab Spring, be Ruined by a Police Protection Bill?

Global Voices

By Rima Sghaier | – ( Global Voices ) – As the Tunisian parliament considers a controversial police protection bill, protests erupted in the city of Bardo to oppose it. On October 6 and 8, human rights groups and a youth-led citizen movement dubbed Hasebhom (translated as “hold them to account”) rallied outside the parliament […]

Europe

Europe’s Tunisian Heritage: Common German, English Words Suggest Carthage was Present in the North

The Conversation

By Robert Mailhammer | – Remember when Australians paid in shillings and pence? New research suggests the words for these coins and other culturally important items and concepts are the result of close contact between the early Germanic people and the Carthaginian Empire more than 2,000 years ago. The city of Carthage, in modern-day Tunisia, […]